Karl De Abrew

Finally - after 41 years, from Diffie and Hellman's concept in 1976 through to real-life production usage in 2017, digital signatures are now in regular use: yes, penned signatures, wax seals and paper itself are finally taking a back-seat. And a big driver in making this a success is PDF.

Karl De Abrew

PDF is platform independent, and a well-worn veteran in the world of document exchange. That said, the delivery, display and usage environment has changed somewhat over the past 5 years. Fancy applications that perform all those useful tasks either on desktop, or on a website, are now being overrun by dedicated mobile apps (yes, drop the '-lications' to stay cool). For PDF developers, if you're looking to go out and play with the big boys and girls, i.e. moving onto the mobile devices, not just in the cloud, then why not play around with a PDF SDK, Xamarin and Cordova. With a fairly minimal amount of work, a few PDF files, and a big return.

Rowan Hanna

Karl De Abrew

Years ago (and years!) when we used to talk about PDF as being the most prominent document format, we'd always have to add a quick, under-the-breath, "de-facto standard". But when it came to being 100 percent assured that it would be around in years to come, it's always been a case of biting our collective lips and hoping for the best. What we would do if Adobe pulled the plug? Over the past two years, though, it's been nothing but standards, standards, standards when it comes to PDF. In fact, there are so many that it's easy to lose track. In this feature article, Planet PDF Editor Karl De Abrew helps to de-mystify the ever-increasing range of PDF-based standards.

Karl De Abrew

Planet PDF talks with another Master of the PDF Universe, Eugene Y. Xiong, Founder and Chairman of the Board at Foxit Software Inc. in Fremont California. Xiong is a quiet yet astounding achiever, you (usually) won't find him talking at conferences, exhibits, or publishings, but what you will find is the result of his leadership in places you would never expect.

Sophie Knowles

Continuous upheaval is what makes watching the technology industry so exciting. David vs. Goliath battles are waged every day, with startups often winning against much larger businesses. For years and years, many have predicted the decline of the PDF given its age and perceived disadvantages. Today, with the PDF losing ground in emerging areas like mobile and eBooks, the calls for its ultimate demise are growing louder.

Dan Shea

In this article, Planet PDF's Dan Shea outlines what linearization means in the context of PDF, along with why and when it is most useful. The piece also briefly touches upon several available solutions for linearizing PDFs and/or viewing linearized PDFs.

Dan Shea

To commemorate 20+ years of PDF, Planet PDF has conducted a new series of interviews with PDF masters, movers and shakers in the PDF universe. In this installment, we speak to Duff Johnson, long-time friend of Planet PDF and a man right at the centre of PDF, as international Project Leader for the PDF specification itself (ISO 32000).

Dan Shea

To commemorate 20+ years of PDF, Planet PDF has conducted a new series of interviews with PDF masters, movers and shakers in the PDF universe. In this instalment, iText's Bruno Lowagie talks about key changes in the PDF landscape, including recognition as a standard, the status of XFA, and and the impact of the rise of mobile computing.

Dan Shea

To take stock, reflect and commemorate more than 20 years of PDF, Planet PDF has conducted a new series of interviews with PDF masters, movers and shakers in the PDF universe. To kick off the new series, IDRsolutions CEO Mark Stephens talks about PDF development and the implications of the rise of mobile technology.

Dan Shea

Due to their self-contained nature, page fidelity, and sophisticated forms technology, PDF forms seem ideally suited for mobile devices. Nevertheless, Adobe has stated categorically that Adobe Reader Mobile will not add support for XFA-based PDF forms. In this article, Planet PDF considers the implications of Adobe's position for forms creators and users.

Dan Shea

PDF is a powerful technology that can produce large, unwieldy files. Ideally, each PDF should be optimized for its intended purpose, audience and delivery method. This article talks about optimization and shows how to slim down over-sized PDF files using Acrobat.

Dan Shea

About 20 years on, it looks like PDF's inexorable march into dominance continues. The latest development is the US IRS's decision to support PDF-based digital signatures on two key forms (8878 and 8879). The spec might say that "No specific technology is required", but we all know that really means PDF. On a site called "Planet PDF" though, we would say that!

OK, so you want to stamp your document. Maybe you need to give reviewers some advice about the document's status or sensitivity. This tip from author Ted Padova demonstrates how to add stamps with the Stamp Tool along with related comments.